Monday, February 2, 2015

Paid Surveys Can Ruin Your life!

Everyone wants to believe that there's an easy, quick way to make a few extra bucks on the side. The Internet has exploded with what appear to be opportunities such as taking paid surveys. Paid market research surveys at first glance seem to be a great idea. They're not supposed to take very long, and while they don’t pay all that much, they’re sort of brainless activities that seem to make it possible to make a few bucks on the side while you watch television at night. Some even have the audacity to call themselves fun and games!

If you’re used to the scamming game, you’ll quickly see that what we’re talking about here is the not-so-elusive too good to be true scam. Only, they really aren’t scams. They probably do exactly what they’re designed to do, they just aren’t completely honest with you about what they’re supposed to do!

If you know anything about the internet, you know that websites get paid when people click on advertisements. Heck, they even get paid when one of those ads is shown on screen. Signing up for services or inputting your email to mailing lists are other ways that pay-per-click advertising works, and there are literally millions of dollars to be had out there for an enterprising company (or just an entrepreneur)

The sad truth is that this is yet another situation in which something sounds too good to be true, but a large number of consumers fall for it anyway. Sure, these sites do pay, but they don’t pay enough to make it worthwhile, and only barely enough to avoid being labeled “scam.”

Most survey sites and apps pay in a variety of ways. They may pay through partner gift cards or with PayPal credits. Others may offer coupons or pay through donations to any of a host of charities. They do pay, though. Otherwise, they’d get that bad label they want so badly to avoid. The semi-legitimate survey companies often have what appear to be easy terms. They’re easy to understand, but might be tough to follow along with the instructions. Here’s how it usually goes:

First, you sign up with them, providing your demographic information such as your name, age, income level, and even your television viewing habits. Once you’re signed up, what follows is why some survey companies are such a pain in the neck. You won’t qualify for every available survey, and the ones that you might, may have numerous pop-up ads and other advertisements that you have to wade through to get to the meat and potatoes of the survey. (Here’s a hint- those ads make money for the company because you’re looking at them!)

You could lose anywhere between ten minutes and several hours, all for a survey that “pays” just a few dollars. The survey companies would like to have you believe that you can do this sort of market research assistance in front of the television and make a bunch of money, but the truth is that you just can’t.

Survey companies that won’t shortchange you or take advantage of you are an exceedingly rare beast. So rare, in fact, that you’d be more likely to see a wild passenger pigeon in your lifetime. There are other opportunities online to make a few dollars, and though none of them really pay particularly well, they do pay. From writing to data entry, opportunities are out there. Just be careful what sort of companies you end up trying to make money with.